Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.9.3/8.9.0.Beta5/980425bjb) with SMTP id XAA14619; Tue, 20 Jun 2000 23:41:59 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 23:41:59 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <3950372C.3393B4DC@interaccess.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Aliza Becker <alzbec@interaccess.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:4591] National Immigration Forum Update X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win95; I) Status: O Content-Length: 21907 Lines: 593 June 16, 2000 To: Forum Associates and Friends Fr: Maurice Belanger, Tara Young Re: Text of National Immigration Forum Fax of June 16th. ============================================== CONTENTS 1. Honduran/Nicaraguan TPS: Re-Registration Deadline Extended to July 5th. 2. H-1B: House and Senate bills have yet to be considered on the Floor. Advocates are still pressing Congress to consider other immigration issues. 3. Senator Graham introduces Immigration bill with many items on advocates' wish lists. 4. Section 110 of 1996 Immigration Law Fixed 5. Benefits Restoration: House companion to Senate's Chafee bill to be introduced. 6. Secret Evidence: House Judiciary Committee holds hearing. 7. INS Reorganization: House Judiciary Committee schedules and postpones Smith bill markup 8. Backlog reduction bill introduced in Senate. 9. Due Process: INS Atlanta office sends memo to prosecutors advising against plea bargaining that would allow immigrants to avoid deportation. 10. Kosovar TPS: Protected status to end December 8th. 11. Naturalization: Hmong Veterans get language waiver for citizenship exam. 12. Benefits: Social Security Administration sends memos to correct for erroneous practice that denied immigrant children Social Security numbers unless parents also had SSNs. 13. Cecilia Muņoz of NCLR wins MacArthur Fellow grant. ====================================================== === TPS - Honduran/Nicaraguan TPS Re-Registration Extended === As reported in a previous update, the INS announced on May 5th that TPS for Hondurans and Nicaraguans has been extended to July 5, 2001. On June 6th, the INS announced that it was extending the period for Hondurans and Nicaraguans to re-register for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Hondurans and Nicaraguans currently with Temporary Protected Status may re-register by July 5th, 2000. (Re-registration applications must be received in INS Service Centers by that date. Individuals who fail to re-register will revert to whatever status they had prior to the grant of TPS.) The INS is also automatically extending the Employment Authorization Document validity period. Employment Authorization Documents issued with the initial TPS grant are being automatically extended to December 5, 2000. The INS advises that it is a good idea to retain a copy of the Federal Register notice announcing the EAD extension for employment verification purposes. The Forum has distributed the June 9th Federal Register notice announcing this change by electronic mail. If you are a Forum Associate and are not on our e-mail list, please send a message to mbelanger@immigrationforum.org. For more information, see the INS news release on the Service's website at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/TPSReg.htm. Forms for re-registration and employment authorization can also be found on the INS's website at: http:// www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/index.htm#chart. ==== H-1B - Bills Queued Up for Full House, Senate Action ==== House and Senate bills raising the number of annual H-1B temporary high skilled worker visas are awaiting floor action in both bodies. In the House, the bill pending floor action is H.R. 4227, the Technology Worker Temporary Relief Act. In May, the Judiciary Committee approved a substitute version of this bill, sponsored by Immigration Subcommittee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) and the ranking Subcommittee Democrat Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX). The substitute bill made relatively minor changes to Rep. Smith's original bill which has received a thumbs down by businesses advocating for an H-1B visa increase. The bill contains a number of requirements that would make the visa program less useful to businesses. Despite the fact that Sheila Jackson-Lee had teamed up with Lamar Smith, the vote in the Judiciary Committee was largely along party lines, with only one other Democrat, Rick Boucher (VA), voting for the Smith bill. A rival bill, H.R. 3983, the Helping to Improve Technology Education and Achievement Act, is favored by businesses. That bill, sponsored by Reps. David Dreier (R-CA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), would increase the number of H-1B visas available to 200,000 per year for each of fiscal years 2001, 2002, and 2003, with a number set aside for institutions of higher learning and research organizations, and for persons with masters degrees or higher degrees. The bill also provides for extensions of H-1B status for workers who are adjusting to permanent residence (in the event the application process extends beyond the expiration of their temporary visa). The bill would increase the fees on companies petitioning for visas, and earmarks some of the funds collected for various education and training programs. Although this bill did not move through the Judiciary Committee, business is still hopeful that the Dreier/Lofgren bill will be substituted for the Smith/Jackson Lee bill in the House Rules Committee. Rep. Dreier chairs that Committee. The Rules Committee will decide the rules of the House floor debate on the H-1B bill. It has the power to make changes to a bill not previously considered by other Committees. There is still hope that at least two other immigration issues-Central American parity and the Registry update legislation-will be included in a final package. In the Senate, the bill sponsored by Spencer Abraham (R-MI), the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act (S. 2045), is still pending floor action. This bill is favored by advocates of an increase in H-1B visas. The Senate is now tied up with consideration of appropriation bills, and a date for consideration of the H-1B bill has not been set. A forthcoming Update will have an analysis of the evolving strategy to have the Congress consider immigration issues in addition to H-1B visas, including legalization of undocumented immigrants with equities in the U.S. =========== LEGISLATION - Senator Graham Introduces Ambitious Immigration Bill =========== On May 25th, Sens. Bob Graham (D-FL) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) introduced the Family, Work and Immigrant Integration Amendments of 2000 (S. 2668). The bill incorporates, among other things, Central American parity legislation, a provision to update the Registry cutoff date and the restoration of Section of 245(i). It also includes several other provisions. These include: extension of the filing deadline for persons applying for NACARA and HRIFA (the deadline has passed, one week after publication of final regulations); adjustment of status for certain Liberian refugees; certain changes to the employment-based immigration system; additional family-based immigration visas, to reduce backlogs; changes to the way that the INS handles children in detention; restoration of certain benefits to immigrant children and pregnant women; and a provision to allow admission of non-immigrants who have an immigration petition pending on visitor or student visas. While the prospects of the bill is uncertain, it does contain a melange of provisions that are available to be peeled off and attached to other bills as they move through the Senate, should opportunities arise to do that. *** Action Needed*** Contact your Senator and ask him or her to become a co-sponsor of S. 2668. ====== FIX 96 - Section 110 of 1996 Law Fixed ====== Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have passed the Immigration and Naturalization Service Data Management Improvement Act. This law requires the INS, by March 20, 2001, to develop an "integrated entry and exit data system" that uses data the INS currently collects at ports of entry. The system requires no new documentation. The system must be in place by December 31, 2003 for all airports and seaports. There is a December 31, 2004 deadline for fifty land border ports of entry that serve the highest number of arrivals and departures. The system established by this law replaces the burdensome system called for in Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. That provision would have created an entry and exit control system at all ports of entry, using data collected from all non-U.S. citizens at entry and compared with the data collected at the time of departure from the United States. The "checking in" and "checking out" system would have created extreme delays at all ports of entry, required expensive development of new technology and infrastructure, and would hinder international trade and tourism by creating enormous backups at the border. ======== BENEFITS - Restoration Bill to be Introduced in House ======== Representatives Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) will be introducing this month a House companion bill to the Senate's Immigrant Children's Health Improvements Act (S. 1227). Under current immigration law, many legal immigrants are ineligible for preventive and basic health care. Pregnant women and children who arrived in the United States after August 22, 1996, are barred for five years from receiving health care under Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This bill would lift the bar and would give states the option of providing health care to pregnant women under Medicaid, and children under Medicaid or SCHIP. This legislation does not mandate any state to cover children and pregnant women; it merely allows a state to draw federal funds to help provide the care. Immigration and health care advocates are holding a press conference on June 21st to announce the introduction of the Diaz-Balart/Waxman bill in the House of Representatives. The speakers will include Representatives Diaz-Balart and Waxman, health care providers, and individuals affected by this law. ======= HEARING - House Holds Another Hearing on Secret Evidence ======= On May 23rd, the full House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on H.R. 2121, the Secret Evidence Repeal Act. The Act would prohibit the use of secret evidence in deportation proceedings or to deny an immigration benefit. The bill also proposes to eliminate the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a special court set up by the Anti-terrorist and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, to deal with classified information in deportation proceedings. The hearing was unusual in that a hearing has already been conducted by the Immigration Subcommittee. First to testify were the bill's chief sponsors, Reps. David Bonior (D-MI) and Tom Campbell (R-CA). (The bill now has 90 co-sponsors.) The sponsors argued that secret evidence, used to deprive someone of freedom or the right to remain in the U.S., has no place in our system of justice. It is impossible to mount a defense, they argued, if a defendant is not told what the charges are or who is making the charges. Administration witnesses testifying-representatives from the FBI and the INS-argued that the law should be kept as is, because it strikes the "best balance" between protecting national security and the rights of the individual. The administration witnesses testified that the decision to use secret evidence is not taken lightly, and there are safeguards in place to ensure that secret evidence is used appropriately. Following the administration representatives, non-government witnesses pointed out that the administration's track record with secret evidence is not good. Prof. David Cole of Georgetown University has represented 13 individuals held on secret evidence. In each of his cases challenging INS's use of secret evidence where the courts have ruled, the INS has lost. The problem, supporters of the secret evidence repeal bill say, is that the very nature of secret evidence makes it easy for the authorities to abuse their power, leaving the accused defenseless. These witnesses suggest that if classified information is to be used, immigrants should have the same protections as criminals have under the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA). Some witnesses testified that H.R. 2121 goes too far. Bruce Ramer, National President of the American Jewish Committee, noted that in no case where the INS has used secret evidence thus far has the government invoked the special court established to handle cases in which secret evidence is used. In the special removal court, established by the Alien Terrorist Removal Act, the government must provide (and a judge must approve) an unclassified summary of the classified information that is sufficient for the accused to prepare a defense. (The summary requirement was subsequently removed by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.) In this witness's view, resorting to the special court, and restoring the requirement that a summary of the evidence be provided to a defendant, would be preferable to the outright ban on the use of classified information. Advocates of H.R. 2121 are pressing for a markup. At this time, no further action has been scheduled. ================== INS REORGANIZATION - House Bill May Move Through Committee (or not) ================== Legislation to re-organize the INS has been scheduled (and postponed) several times for markup in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill that is being considered in the House is that of Immigration Subcommittee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX), H.R. 3918, the Immigration Reorganization and Improvement Act. In the view of immigration advocates, that bill may well result in an agency that is even less responsive to immigrants than the INS is today, and less accountable for its enforcement abuses. Democrats are preparing amendments for the Judiciary Committee markup. In order to be acceptable, the current legislation will have to be significantly amended. Without significant amendment, advocates for a responsible reorganization of the agency will seek to prevent the Smith bill from passing the House. =========== LEGISLATION - Backlog Reduction Bill Introduced =========== In a somewhat related development, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), along with Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and eight other original co-sponsors, has introduced the Immigration Services and Infrastructure Improvements Act (S. 2586). In part, the bill authorizes the establishment of an Immigration Services and Infrastructure Improvement Account, and authorizes appropriations to fund this account. If the bill is enacted, and if Congress provides funding for the Account, the new funding would allow the INS to address infrastructure problems without diverting application fees away from their intended purpose-adjudicating applications. The bill also sets up a number of reporting requirements, and sets a goal of eliminating application backlogs (defined as cases pending more than 180 days) within one year of the bill's enactment. ***Action Needed*** Contact your Senator and ask him or her to become a co-sponsor of S. 2586. As of this writing, cosponsors listed on the bill (other than Sen. Abraham) are Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Michael DeWine (R-OH), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Bob Graham (D-FL), James Jeffords (R-VT), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), Harry Reid (D-NV), and Paul Wellstone (D-MN). ====== FIX 96 - Prosecutorial Discretion? INS Memo Counsels Harsh Treatment ====== Recently, a memo from the INS's Atlanta office, written last year and sent to area prosecutors was made public. The memo urges prosecutors to avoid plea bargaining with an immigrant that will result in a sentence that falls below the threshold for deporting the immigrant-a one-year sentence (suspended or not). "If possible," the memo reads, "do not plea bargain an Aggravated Felony down to a non aggravated felony. ... This is important to assure the alien's swift removal and the [much more severe punishment] if he returns [after deportation]." The advice to prosecutors, if followed, would assure that an immigration judge, thanks to the 1996 immigration law, would not be able to allow the convicted immigrant to remain in the U.S. even if there are compelling reasons, such as family dependents in the U.S. Persons convicted of minor crimes are often given one year suspended sentences. A one-year sentence, rather than actual time served, will trigger the removal of even a Legal Permanent Resident. The willingness of at least some in the INS to deny every opportunity for immigrants to remain in the U.S., combined with an immigration law that treats first-time offenders convicted of minor crimes the same as hardened criminals, demonstrates the need to fix the 1996 immigration law. Immigration judges should be given the authority to review a case to see if it makes sense to deport an individual based on a range of factors. Not waiting for Congress to act, state legislators, local judges, and other state and local officials are taking steps to ameliorate some of the harsh and permanent consequences of criminal convictions for immigrants. According the Atlanta Constitution, 14 states and the District of Columbia now have laws requiring that immigrants be asked if they understand the potential immigration consequences of a guilty plea. In Georgia, according to the paper, some judges have begun to sentence people to probation for 11 months and 29 days, just below the threshold to trigger deportation and permanent banishment. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole has so far this year granted 10 pardons to prevent the deportation of immigrants. Meanwhile, in Congress, pending legislation to alleviate some of the harshest provisions of the 1996 law remains stalled. === TPS - TPS for Kosovars to End December 8th === The INS published a notice in the Federal Register on May 23rd announcing that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for persons from Kosovo province (of the former Yugoslavia) will be terminated as of December 8, 2000. By announcing this decision just two weeks prior to the expiration of the current period of TPS (June 8th), the Attorney General was required to extend TPS for an additional six months. Persons from Kosovo originally gained TPS in June of 1998, when Serbian forces were attacking and purging ethnic Albanians living in the province. The province is no longer experiencing the "ongoing internal conflict" that led to the original designation for TPS. The notice states that 3,000 Kosovars have already returned to the province from the United States, and that there are estimated to be 1,000 here under the protection of TPS. Kosovars who have registered for TPS may re-register for the final six-month extension during the current re-registration period, which ends on June 22nd. ============== NATURALIZATION - Hmong Veterans Obtain Citizenship Language Waiver ============== On May 26th, President Clinton signed a bill into law that waives the English language requirement of the citizenship exam for qualified Hmong immigrants. This law provides the waiver for Hmong veterans of the Vietnam War, who secretly served in Laos before and during the war. It also provides the waiver for their spouses and widows. Approximately 45,000 Hmong qualify to use a translator for the citizenship exam. There is no age or residency requirement to receive this waiver. Spouses and widows qualify if they were married to the veteran when he or she applied for refugee status. (Those who married veterans after they applied for refugee status are ineligible.) ======== BENEFITS - Children of Immigrants Erroneously Denied Social Security Numbers ======== Section 1090(b) of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 requires that the Social Security Administration (SSA) obtain the social security numbers (SSNs) of parents when they apply to obtain SSNs for children under the age of 18. According to that law, at least one parent must have a social security number in order for the newborn or child under the age of 18 to receive a number. Exceptions are allowed, but they have never been defined by regulation. The information received from this application is shared with the Internal Revenue Service, to make it easier to match parents and child SSNs for purposes of detecting fraud in the Earned Income Tax Credit program. (The information is not shared with the INS.) Despite the lack of clarity on exceptions, some SSA offices and hospitals had "jumped the gun" and started advising parents who do not have social security numbers that they cannot obtain numbers for their citizen children. To correct this error, SSA sent memos to its field offices, to hospitals, and to state bureaus of health statistics stating that newborns and children should continue to receive SSNs even if the parents do not have numbers, as long as the parents have a valid reason for not providing a number. For example, not having an SSN is a valid reason for not providing one. ======================= ADVOCACY COMMUNITY NEWS - Cecilia Muņoz of NCLR Wins MacArthur Fellowship Grant ======================= The staff of the National Immigration Forum would like to congratulate our friend and colleague Cecilia Muņoz, of the National Council of La Raza, who has been chosen as one of this year's recipients of a MacArthur Fellows grant. The five-year grants are awarded to between 20 and 40 individuals per year who show exceptional merit and promise for continued creative work. We are extremely proud to have her working on our team! ========== CORRECTION ========== In the policy update of May 23rd, the web address for the background materials the Forum has developed relating to the "H-1B Plus" issues-Central American parity, changing the Registry cutoff date, and restoring Section 245(i)-was listed incorrectly. Links to these advocacy materials can be found at http://www.immigrationforum.org/CurrentIssues/legalization.html. -- Aliza Becker Phone: (773) 267-0746 Fax (773) 478-5091 E-mail alzbec@interaccess.com
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